The central character is senior investigator Pavel Shelest. His colleagues call him Shelest. He handles the most high-profile criminal cases, involving bank robberies, armored car heists, and contract killings. In his work, Pavel adheres to Gleb Zheglov's rule: "The place for a criminal is behind bars." Sometimes he bends the law to catch the culprit. Shelest is willing to commit an official crime in order for justice to prevail.